The last couple of months have illustrated that franchise fatigue cannot be dismissed as a one-off occurrence. Star Wars fans made it clear that they weren’t interested in going to theaters to see the latest adventure featuring characters they’re used to watching at home. The Mandalorian and Grogu, a spin-off to the hit Disney+ series The Mandalorian, now holds the unenviable distinction of being the lowest-grossing Star Wars movie of the Disney era. More recently, the DC Universe experienced its first major blow with its second installment, Supergirl, emerging dead on arrival at the box office. It’s now poised to finish its run as one of the worst-performing movies of its size. This streak seems to be continuing this week, with another Disney underperformer.
We’re talking, of course, about the live-action Moana remake. While the movie received a healthy A- grade from opening day audiences, critical reviews have been dismal so far. It’s also becoming clear that even though audiences still love the character and the world, there was little appetite for a live-action remake, especially one that arrives only a decade after the beloved animated original and less than two years after its sequel. This combination of events hasn’t worked in the favor of Dwayne Johnson, who would have been counting on the Moana remake to get him back to winning ways after a string of high-profile box-office underperformers.
‘Moana’ Is in ‘Snow White’ Territory
Johnson is coming off his ill-fated foray into the DC Extended Universe, Black Adam, his would-be Oscar bid with The Smashing Machine, and the mega-budget quasi-streaming titles Jungle Cruise and Red One. The Moana remake was directed by the relatively untested (at this scale) Thomas Kail, with newcomer Catherine Laga’aia playing the titular character. The movie currently holds a 34% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “The sea calls to no one in this underwhelming new version of Moana, an endeavor that solidifies its animated predecessor as the superior adventure.” Produced on a reported budget of $250 million, Moana debuted with just a little more than $15 million on opening day, including the $4.5 million that it made in Thursday previews. The movie is currently eyeing an opening weekend haul in the low $40 million range, which would put it in the same category as Disney’s disastrous Snow White remake. This is a far cry from the heyday of Disney remakes, during which titles such as Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. Johnson now has Jumanji: Open World to look forward to later this year. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
-
July 10, 2026
- Runtime
-
120 Minutes
- Director
-
Thomas Kail
Source link
#Disneys #LiveAction #Remake #Fails #Meet #Box #Office #Expectations



Post Comment